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Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

Pioneer African-American Writers

Pioneer African-American Writers
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.03

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    best-seller, inequality, mainstream, mini-series, ocean-going, prominence, spacecraft, DuBois, inner-city, preschoolers, literature, bounty, frequently, novels, writing, inspiration
     content words:    Phyllis Wheatley, Various Subjects, Frederick Douglas, Frederick Douglass, Booker T., Up From Slavery, Harlem Renaissance, New York, Claude McKay, World War

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Pioneer African-American Writers
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Pioneers explore new lands. On their return, they share their knowledge of new places, and everyone is a little bit wiser.
 
2     Some people become pioneers without ever boarding a covered wagon, an ocean-going ship, or a spacecraft. They find knowledge in their own experiences, and they find ways to share that knowledge with the world. Many of the pioneers of African-American literature found their inspiration in past experiences. By writing autobiographies, essays, poems, stories, and novels, they shared their experiences with others.
 
3     The first published African-American writer was Phillis Wheatley. She was born in Africa and came to America as a slave. By the time she was a teenager, she was already writing poems in her new language, English. Her formal language reflected the style of English appreciated by educated people of her day. A collection of her poems, Poems on Various Subjects, was published in 1773.
 
4     After his second escape from slavery, Frederick Douglass published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, in 1845. In this autobiography, he tells of never having a birthday because, like many slaves, he was not permitted to know the date of his birth.
 
5     The turn of the century brought to prominence two writers - W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. Both were educated men who wrote about the history of black people in America and about their differing views on the best way to proceed in the future.

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